High Stakes
by TimeAndACrayon
Summary: [Eric/OC] Dani left Amity behind for the excitement Dauntless offered, but she gets more than she bargained for when she meets her trainer, Eric, and realizes initiation isn't going to be easy as she first thought.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Mornings in Amity have always been dull. For the large majority of my faction, the melody of the tweeting birds and the warm sun rippling down onto our skin, is the perfect way to start the day. For me? Not so much.

I do enjoy the peace sometimes, I won't lie about that, but I want more. More excitement, more adventure. I've never been anywhere but the Amity grounds, the school, and the places in between at a brief glance, and that thought is thoroughly depressing.

I yank on my red trousers and yellow top in haste. I'm already quite late for breakfast in the food hall as I slept in for too long, and I can hear Jas getting impatient outside my room (As impatient as an Amity can get anyway).

"Dani, hurry up we need to go!" Jas yelled through the oak door. My sister can be loud for someone who's supposed to be peaceful.

"Alright just a minute!" I reply, sighing as I begin to braid my auburn hair down my shoulder. It's fiddly, and the strands won't seem to flow together. My distracted mind has apparently stopped my fingers from working.

"I'll wait for you in the food hall" She eventually sighs, and I hear soft footsteps padding away down the hallway. I finish of my hair, trying to smooth down the strands of hair that are sticking up all over the place. I grab my battered leather school satchel and race after her, almost colliding with an Amity man along the way. I yell an apology as I skate round the corner and enter the food hall.

I see my sister at a table already eating her breakfast, and she's set mine out in front of me already. At least that saves me a little time. She smiles and waves me over with a chuckle.

"Thanks" I splutter as I slide onto the bench, grabbing the bread roll eagerly. She laughs at me again, before raising an eyebrow, smirking slightly. I know exactly what that face means.

"What?" I sigh. She grins again.

"You excited about your aptitude test?" She says, taking another bite of her bread. I groan, I had almost forgotten. Almost.

"I haven't thought much about it really" I reply quickly, trying to avoid her eyes. I'd make a terrible Candor.

"Sure" she draws out, and I sigh in response. Jas has a habit of guessing exactly how I'm feeling. I suppose that's what happens when your sister becomes your sole guardian.

Our Mother died when I was young, I barely remember her, although Jas does. Her death still upsets her I can tell. Our Father isn't around anymore either. When Mother died he got very depressed. He began to sneak forbidden alcohol into the Amity grounds and after a while would be constantly drunk.

He blamed Mother's death on Jas and I, and would beat us for it almost every day. Now _that _I do remember. When the Amity found out about this, they removed him from Amity, made him factionless. I haven't seen him since. Good riddance is all I can say.

"Dani, am I talking to myself here?" Jas snaps her fingers in front of my face, and I jump out of my brief trance.

"Hm?" I respond, Jas rolls her eyes.

"What I was saying was you don't need to be nervous. I remember my aptitude test, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected" she pauses "The person doing my test freaked me out a bit though" She winks, and I chuckle back. That's one thing I love about Jas, she never fails to make you laugh when you're feeling down.

"Come on, you're gonna be late" She passes me my satchel "I can walk with you if you want"

"No thanks, I'll catch up with Mary and Elliott if that's alright" I smile and give her a hug, just like good Amity girls do.

"Good luck" She whispers in my ear before ushering me towards the door. I can spot Mary and Elliott not too far in front of me and run up behind them, grabbing their shoulders. They leap up with a yelp, until they turn around and see that it's only me.

"Dani!" Mary yells, pressing her hand to her heart. "I wish you wouldn't do that, it'll kill me one of these days"

"Oh come on, Mary, lighten up" Elliot laughs. That earns him a dig in the side from Mary. I've known these guys since I was little, they are the closest things to friends I have. I've just never fit in with them. They're lovely of course but we're different in so many ways, like chalk and cheese.

"Aptitude test today" Elliott announces, I feel my stomach drop again. Why do people have to keep reminding me?

"I'm not worried" Mary replies "It'll only confirm what I already know" she smiles, and Elliott nods in agreement. I stay silent.

We continue ambling towards the school, laughing and talking just like we do every morning, but I can't focus. Not with my insides doing nervous somersaults. As we get closer, a rainbow of faction colours begin to appear as we all form our lines. Each person chats with various degrees of nervous excitement, a distinctly different atmosphere in the air today.

A train screeches along the tracks, and without even needing to turn around I know who it is. Swarms of black clad teenagers hurl themselves out of the moving train, whooping and laughing as they did so. Mary visibly shudders beside me.

"I wouldn't be able to do that, imagine if you fell!" she exclaims.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time something like that's happened" Elliott grimaced.

"I think it looks quite exciting" I murmur almost inaudibly. I feel both pairs of eyes on me and immediately regret saying it. "I mean if you're into that kind of thing" I attempt to backtrack. They seem happy with my response and turn away again.

We wait for what seems like hours for them to open the door. I can feel all the factions around me get restless. What once was excitement is now a collective bundle of nerves across all the teens waiting. All I want to do is to go home. To curl up in bed and avoid ever having to find out what faction I truly belong in. Part of me wants to stay in Amity, it's where I grew up and all I know. My sister's there, my friends, my home. Then the other part of me wants to leave. To go somewhere, anywhere else but there. If adventure is what I want, I'm not going to find it in Amity.

After what seems like an age, the doors open and we all flood through the threshold to gather in the hall. Mary grabs both mine and Elliott's hand and pulls us with her, laughing.

"It's nearly time" she squeals. I follow her slowly, letting her drag me with her.

We take our seats in the large hall. The ventilation isn't the best in here so the nervous sweat of other factions mingles with my own, and it doesn't exactly make me feel any better.

"Settle down please, settle down" Marcus, the Abnegation leader, raises his hands to bring the murmur to a silence. He launches into a speech about how this isn't a final decision, only a mere indication of which faction we should choose. Mary and Elliott hang on to his every word. I, on the other hand, let my mind and eyes wonder to the Dauntless.

They look effortlessly confident, even just sitting down they radiate an aura of self-assurance that makes me envious. It wasn't something I could picture being like, in my red and yellow Amity clothes. Amity girls aren't confident, Amity girls are timid. I am anyway.

As Marcus's speech draws to a close, we all begin to shuffle again, and as he lets us move to the waiting area, a chorus of unintelligible ramblings begins from each person, and doesn't stop even for a moment. Elliott, Mary and I take our seats once more, waiting for them to call our names.

More waiting. Fantastic.

My mind is cloudy with an assortment of thoughts, and I barely register time passing until I hear:

"Danielle Coleman" a woman shouts from the end of the hallways. I rise slowly from my chair as I feel various pairs of eyes on me.

"Mary Powell" A man yells. I feel Mary leap up next to me, and she grabs my hand as we edge through the crowds on the way to the doors ahead of us. We reach where the test administers are standing, and just as I am about to walk into the room, Mary throws her arms around my neck. I wrap my arms around her too and I wait for her to let go. I was used to the incessant hugging, it's something Amity like to do, Mary more than most.

"Good luck" She smiles.

"Damn Amity" The man waiting to test Mary grumbles at our affection, and at that we part ways and I trail behind the woman into a room.

It's almost empty, there is a large mirror covering the wall and a medical looking chair in the middle. The fear suddenly becomes more real as I realise I can't leave now. The only way out now is to complete the test, a hurdle that I'm not particularly looking forward to. The Dauntless woman nudges me towards the chair and I reluctantly lie down on it. I feel awkward and out of place in these bizarre circumstances.

"My name is Tori, and I will be administering your test today" she explains, boredom laced through her voice. It's probably the hundredth time she has had to recite that today. Have to feel sorry for her really. She begins to attach various electrodes to me before attaching one to herself, and then proceeds to hand me a small glass filled with a peculiar looking liquid. I raise an eyebrow at Tori, and she rolls her eyes in response.

"Just drink it" she sighs. I raise the glass to my mouth, and slowly tip it so the liquid runs over my lip, across my tongue, and down my throat.

I begin to feel hazy as the liquid takes effect. I'm scared, I'm alone, and I don't know what's going to happen...but I suppose there's only one way to find out. I let my eyes slowly droop closed as the world outside slips away from me.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I peel my eyes open to find I am standing in the exact same room, bar a few missing pieces of furniture. Where the medical chair once stood, now stands a table with only a knife and a block of cheese on top. I frown at them, unsure of what I'm actually supposed to be doing.

"Choose" a disembodied voice reverberated throughout the room. I glance around but I see no one there. Looking down at the items again makes me furrow my brows.

"Choose!" The voice grows impatient, and drops of sweat begin to appear on my skin. I need to think about this.

An Amity would choose the cheese of course, they would never dare use any form of weapon as it would not fit with the ideals of the faction. A Dauntless would pick the knife. The question is, do I?

I close my eyes for a moment, to silence my mind, to think. However when I open them the items are gone. The table is empty and I have nothing in my hands.

"Great" I mutter to myself. I start to wonder what is supposed to happen next when I hear a rumbling snarl from the corner. Oh. That's what's happening next.

The wolf starts towards me, first prowling with its canines bared, but then it starts to run. It's furry legs pound against the tiled ground and its eyes lock on to mine with a hideous glare. I have to stop its aggression, I have to make myself seem small. So that's what I do.

I turn away and sink to the floor, clenching my eyelids shut and breathing so heavily I think my lungs might burst. I anticipate a crunch, a squelch perhaps, a burning pain that rips through my body and ends my terror, but it doesn't come.

I turn back round with caution to see the dog lying next to me, no longer trying to tear my throat out. I breathe heavily out and slump my tense shoulders. Is this it? Am I done now?

Apparently not.

A small girl across the room shouts "Puppy" in delight. I scramble to my feet as the wolf lurches towards the girl, his eyes filled with the same venom he had directed at me. In a moment of sheer panic, I kick the dog and it yelps, skidding across the floor. It didn't get back up. It's carcass disappears and so does the girl, and I realise I am no longer in the room.

I am on a street corner, people bustling past me and making noise, it was hard to concentrate. A boy of maybe twelve or thirteen bumps into me. His eyes are wide and he has clearly been running.

"Are you OK?" I ask, unsure of what to make of the situation.

"I'm fine, but please don't tell my Mother you've seen me" he pants, out of breath.

"Why?" I ask back, curious as to what is going on.

"I just need some peace, she has done nothing but shout at me today" He glances round me and sees something that makes him run in the opposite direction. I was about to call out when another person taps me on the shoulder. I turn to see a women equally as out of breath as the boy before.

"You haven't seen a young boy have you? About so high, wearing a black and white jacket?" she questions.

Ah, so this is the boy's Mother. Do I tell her, or don't I? I think back to my Father's shouting, and how much I wanted to escape that, and feel sorry for the boy.

"No, I'm sorry" I lie.

"Oh, well thank you anyway" she narrows her eyes but takes my answer anyway, and proceeds to jog away to find her son. I feel a pang of guilt in my stomach as I turn away once more.

When my eyes open I am back in the tiled room, and I look around cautiously to see if I was still in the test. I realise I'm not, as I look up and see Tori at the computer.

She appeared to be frowning at it, tapping keys and buttons frantically.

"What's my result?" I ask, not meaning to sound so blunt. She snaps her head up and looks at me.

"Dauntless" She darts her eyes away from me, won't look at me in the eye.

"You don't sound too sure" I reply, raising my voice with my growing uncertainty.

"You're Dauntless, OK, your result is Dauntless!" She shouts, I recoil slightly, but hop off the chair and walk briskly towards the door.

"Thank you" I stutter.

"Go back to class" she sighs, her tone lower and more sympathetic than it was before. I open the door and step out into the corridor, my hands feeling shaky. It's like stepping out of some weird dream state and it's messing with my head.

I amble down the corridor, my thoughts simply a pile of mush that I can't make sense of. I spot Mary down the hall and she meets my gaze, looking like an excited puppy.

"Dani" She yells, waving at me. She seems happy enough, I guess the test affects people in different ways.

"Hey, how did it go?" I ask her, curious to see if her experience was similar to mine.

"So good! I'm happy with my result" she smiles, her eyes alive with excitement. "How about you?"

"Good. I think" I reply with unease, May didn't seem to spot it, and beckoned for me to follow her.

"Come on, we need to head back to class" she insists.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute" I assure her as I head the opposite way to the bathroom. I fling the door open and run to a mirror, splashing my face with cold water from the tap. I look mentally exhausted, my eyes droop and are filled with turmoil. Then it hits me.

I'm Dauntless.

That's my result, the faction I'm supposed to belong in. My result isn't Amity which was what I assumed I'd receive, but Dauntless? The people I have quietly admired for so long are the people I'm supposed to be like.

I'm terrified, but exhilarated at the same time. I could be brave like them, confident, strong. I don't have to be timid little Amity girl anymore, but do I dare make the jump?

The rest of the day passes in a blur. All anyone can talk about is the aptitude test and their results. The teachers stop trying to calm us after a while and just let us ride out the excitement. Mary and Elliott babble nonstop about how well they think the test went, but I don't join in.

As the end of the day arrives I don't bother waiting for my friends, and instead start my way home on my own. I feel like I'm in limbo, I don't know where I'm supposed to belong.

As I enter the Amity grounds I realise I must have walked home quite quickly as I am the first school attendee to arrive. I hear a frail voice call out.

"Danielle, you wouldn't be able to help an old girl push this wheelbarrow, would you?" Esther calls. I immediately jog over to help her. Esther is getting on a bit now, she's well past the age of retirement but insists on continuing with her work as long as she can stand up.

I grab the handles of the wheelbarrow from her and start pushing it towards the barn as she walks beside me.

"Thank you dear, these bones aren't as strong as they used to be" she chuckles, and I grin in return. We walk in silence for a few moments until she pipes up again.

"You had your test today, yes?" she asks.

"Yeah" I reply in an unintentionally deflated manner.

"What was your result?", I give her a sideways glance, we aren't supposed to discuss our results to anybody. "Oh, always the good girl"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that" I murmur, mainly to myself.

"Well do you at least have an idea of which faction you want to choose?" she prompt. I pause briefly for thought.

"Amity, probably" I shrug.

"Don't you 'probably' me, Danielle Coleman, either you know or you don't" Esther raised her voice.

"Well my sister's here, and my home, and my friends-"

"You don't choose for anyone but yourself young lady, or else you'll regret it for the rest of your life" her advice is blunt, but ultimately what I need to hear. There is another pause for silence as we continue our path towards the barn.

"There is one faction..." I trail away, leaving Esther to guess the rest.

"You don't know whether you should join it" she finishes for me.

"I'm scared, I don't know whether I'll fit like the others seem to do so well" I complain "What if I fail?"

"Oh but my darling what if you succeed" she insists "You'll never know until you try"

With that final piece of advice we reach the barn and she thanks me for my help before tottering away to the food hall. I am left standing alone, more confused than I have ever been before.

_You'll never know until you try._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dinner is unbearable. I'm constantly being peppered with questions from various Amity members. 'How did you do?' and 'Was it exciting?' and 'What was your result?' compile the large majority of my interactions and it's surprisingly exhausting.

I've been thinking of nothing but my test result of course. I only have a week left until the Choosing Ceremony and I'm nowhere near deciding where I want to go. I've narrowed it down to two factions; Amity, and Dauntless. They're polar opposites, I know, but nothing my mind comes up with makes any sense at the moment.

"Dani, I said could you pass the salt?" a chuckle comes from a few seats along, followed by a chorus of laughter from the seats around me.

"Oh sorry" I say, grabbing the salt and reaching over to pass it down.

"I bet she's distracted because of her test" one woman suggests, laughing lightly.

"Hmm, what do you reckon her result was?" another woman ponders in jest.

"Amity, of course" chimes one man.

"She's a clever girl, maybe even Erudite?".

I feel heat of anger rise up my neck. They know nothing about me, they have no right to comment on where they think I'll go. Jas looks at me apologetically. I know they have no bad intentions, but the irrational frustration builds and I stand up abruptly, my fists balled, jaw clenched.

I feel various pairs of eyes on me and I remember that I'm in Amity, I have to calm down.

"Excuse me" I smile as I leave the table and walk briskly back to my home.

By the time Jas comes back I have calmed down, but it hasn't quietened my thoughts towards the ever closer Choosing Ceremony.

"Sorry about them" Jas offers "They didn't mean to sound so...you know". I smile at her apologetically.

"I overreacted. I just don't know which faction I'm supposed to choose!"

"It's not about which faction you're supposed to choose, it's about which faction you want to choose" she says, looking at me directly in the eye.

"I can't leave you!" I protest. She sighs and walks over to me, holding my hands.

"I'll survive. If you want to go somewhere else then that's what you have to do" she insists.

"But-"

"Dani!" Jas silences me. "I love you, and you transferring to a different faction isn't going to change that" She smiles at me, she doesn't look sad, she looks hopeful. For me.

"I appreciate it, Jas" I throw my arms around her in a hug, and she happily returns it.

"If Mom was here, she'd be so proud of you" she whispers next to my ear, and I feel nostalgically sad at the mention of our Mother.

"And you too! You managed to bring me up on your own, that's a challenge in itself!" I joke to lighten the mood as we pull away from our hug.

"We've done okay, haven't we" she stated, a grin tugging at her lips.

"Yeah" I agree "Yeah we have"

The night seems to be going on forever. I can't stop tossing and turning, thinking about my future. There's a life beyond the Choosing Ceremony, and the consequence of my choice of faction is going to be me living that life. That's a thought I don't want to be thinking about.

But I have to be thinking about it, that's the thing. Or else I'll get to the ceremony next week and blank when I get to the bowls, that's something I don't want to happen.

I have to stop being afraid.

I have to be brave.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It's the morning of the much anticipated Choosing Ceremony, and I feel like my head is about to explode with all the conflict happening in my brain. Every time I had thought I'd come to a decision, I would end up changing my mind five minutes later. Suffice to say I'm panicking a little.

I'm trying to make myself look somewhat presentable, smoothing down my wavy hair and attempting to remove the creases from my clothes, but nothing seems to distract my mind.

Taking a look around my room for what might be the last time, I flick off the light switch and shut the door softly. I take a deep breath in and try to put a smile on my face, I don't want to make my sister sad.

"Morning!" Jas exclaims with glee, gathering her stuff ready to walk to the food hall.

"Hey" I reply, rubbing my eyes that are not totally awake. "You OK?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. She looks at me with a bewildered expression.

"Am _I _OK?" she laughs "What about you, it's your choosing ceremony today"

"Don't remind me" I groan. We walk to the food hall together, chatting as we do every morning. Yet the atmosphere in the food hall was different. All the 16 year olds were either biting their fingernails or jiggling their legs under the table. Even Elliott and Mary looked nervous today.

"Good luck, guys" Elliott says, giving Mary and I a hug.

"We don't need luck, Elliott, we know what to choose" Mary affirms.

"Yeah, it'll be fine" I reply with a huge fake smile riddling my face. They have assumed I'll choose Amity, but I don't even know where I'm going yet.

The morning goes slower than I'd have liked, and the walk t the Hub seemed even longer. Hundreds of people from each faction file into the hall, taking their seats at their respective sections. I sit next to my sister, gazing upon the platform below. I can make out the five brass bowls and their contents, and my breathing becomes shallow.

Once everyone has taken their seats, Marcus begins talking, but I barely hear what he says. His words tumble from his mouth and dissipate before they reach my ears, my mind is on other things.

Soon I realise they have begun to call out names. I shouldn't be long before they get to mine, 'Coleman' is quite near the beginning of the alphabet.

My sister squeezes my hand, and keeps it there, soothing me as I get gradually more nervous. Soon the dreaded words hit my ears.

"Danielle Coleman" Marcus shouts. My stomach turns as I stand up with weak knees. I give Jas one last hug before starting my journey down the aisle to the front of the room. It feels like the journey goes on for years, when it fact it only lasts a few seconds.

As I reach Marcus he hands me a gleaming knife, and I hesitate before dragging the silver edge along my palm. It stings and I grimace as I complete the cut. I place the knife back on the table and stand before the bowls, my heart nearly beating out of my chest.

I clench my bleeding palm, not wanting a single drop of blood to slip into one of the bowls before I am ready. It's a bit late to make the decision now, I know. It's hard when the rest of your life lies in a bit of blood and a brass bowl. I first move my hands over Amity's bowl, my eyes burning into the dirt. I can't leave my older sister, I'd just stay with my born faction, nothing would change. Simple.

I stop.

I can't do it. I can't lead a life of farming and peaceful monotony, even if my sister is there with me. The thought of spending my life cooped up in the same Amity compound I have spent 16 years of my life in makes my stomach lurch. I want to be free from restraint and forced peace.

I close my eyes, take a deep breath in through my nose and let it slowly whisper from my lips. Without thinking about it, my red stained hand drifts towards the simmering coals. I tilt my hand and watch carefully as a single drop of crimson slide of my pale skin and onto the coal with a sizzle.

The crowd behind me begins to whoop and cheer, and I realise that it is the Dauntless. The rest of the factions clap politely. A few of the Amity are murmuring to each other in shock. I scan the crowd of red and orange until I find the only face I want to see. My sister.

She is smiling, and as she catches my eye she gives a little wave, and I wave back. My heart tugs a little, but before I really have time to feel sad, I feel hands grabbing me and pulling me towards the Dauntless section, slapping me on the back and shouting congratulations. All of a sudden the blue loneliness in my stomach turns to warmth as I gaze upon my new faction.

A Dauntless man offers me his seat and I gratefully take it, needing to sit down to I can regain my thoughts.

I've done it. I've actually done it. I changed factions and I feel better for it.

They continue to call out names, and of course Mary and Elliott chose Amity. I clap extra loud for them when they take their seats back at the Amity section, although feel mildly guilty for leaving them. I shake my head, I have to start thinking about myself for a change.

The ceremony goes on for another hour or so, and when it draws to a close, the factions start to rise from their seats and walk towards the exit.

Except Dauntless.

The run towards the exit, shouting and laughing. I look around the place, the other transfers look equally confused as me.

"You know you can't run unless you move your legs" one boy, a Candor, says to me. He runs off and I follow, my legs pounding against the floor as I move through the door and out into the fresh air. I have no idea where we're going but I run anyway, enjoying the feeling of wind in my air.

Until I see why we are running.

The train I have seen so many times before rolls over the tracks, screeching along as it always does. I'm so used to simply watching it as it drives past, except this time I would be jumping on it. The dauntless born are the first to jump with ease, they seem to enjoy it. But then it is my turn.

I fear that I will be too slow to board it, so run harder despite the pain that starts to build in my sides. I grab a railing by the door, my fingertips barely managing to grasp on to it. With a sharp pull and an almighty jump I leap through the gap. I barely make it, but before I can regain my breath I feel a body in blue clothing slam into me.

I feel the air rush out of me as we both fall against the wall of the carriage.

"Sorry!" A female voice exclaims apologetically. I look up to see a girl with long dark blonde hair looking at me.

"That's OK" I reply, still slightly out of breath. She looks at me and a smirk appears on her lips, as does mine. We burst out in laughter, sinking down next to each other on the floor of the carriage.

"I'm Jenna. Call me Jen though" her hand extends towards me and I take it gladly.

"Dani" I shake her hand and smile. I've gained a friend, that makes me feel better about joining a new faction.

"The only Amity huh?" She grins at me. I furrow my brow.

"Really?" I ask, I thought there would at least be one more.

"Well it's not the most common transition; peace to violence" she laughs. I lean forward and glance around the carriage, looking for flashes of red and yellow.

Well what do you know? She's right.

"You're from Erudite then?" I comment.

"Can't you tell?" She replies, pulling at her blue shirt.

"What made you leave?"

"I wasn't clever enough" she shrugs "Besides, it's a boring faction anyway".

We laugh and chat with each other all the way along the track, becoming more friendly as we went along. It was only when people started shouting that we stopped for a pause.

"Wait, are they-"

"Jumping, yeah it looks like it" Jen cuts me off, starting to stand up. I join her on her feet and start to feel nervous again. The gap between the train and the top of the building is huge, bigger than I've ever jumped before. I look to Jen and she has the same look of panic scrawled across her face.

"What do we do?" Jen yells.

"Jump!" I shout back over the rush of the wind.

"Do we have to" she groans.

"Yes!" I grab her clammy hand in mine and we walk to the edge of the carriage. We look at each other briefly, nerves soaking our faces.

"Three" I say squeezing her hand "Two" I position my feet.

"One" we say together, as we run back and charge towards the building"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

We land on the gravelled rooftop with a thud, tiny bits of stone fly away from us on impact. Jen starts patting herself to check for injuries, but I simply lie there. I am in complete awe of the rush that jump gave me. Although it was terrifying and dangerous, it made me feel alive, and I loved it.

"Get up you idiot" Jen nudges me, grinning. We are both OK. A few more people jump and land on the building and the train rushes away from us, along the tracks and into the distance.

I stand up and brush away the tiny bits of gravel from my clothes, when a voice shouts from across the roof.

"Initiates, gather round!" I hear a man's voice shout, I turn around and walk over to where everyone else is standing to see where the voice came from. I see that it is a Dauntless man. He is clothed in black, with intricate tattoos across his muscular arms, and piercings above his eyebrow. He has cropped blonde hair, and cold blue eyes that radiate an air of intimidation. You wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him, I can't help but think.

"My names Eric" the man continues "I'm a Dauntless leader and will be overseeing the transfers training". I widen my eyes, he looks far too young to be a leader, though I suppose things are different in Dauntless.

"You've made it this far, but now you've got to actually get inside" he announces.

"How?" an Erudite boy inquires. Eric chuckles.

"I'm so glad you asked" he gestures behind him. It was a hole. A big gaping hole, too black to see anything inside. It looked deep.

"You want us to jump?" one girl exclaims.

"Unless you can fly" he replies sarcastically. "Well someone needs to go first"

We all look to each other, glancing around to see who will be brave enough. We don't know what's at the bottom, and none of us want to be the first to find out. Eric is getting more impatient, tapping his foot and raising an eyebrow.

"Well" he says, looking around us. I feel a pressure begin to build, and a sudden surge of confidence makes me step forward.

"I'll do it" I say, and feel dozens of pairs of eyes on me. Eric's head whips around to look at me, and smirks when he sees the colours I'm wearing.

"Amity" he laughs "That's interesting"

I feel a brief moment of regret as I walk up to stand on the ledge. Eric hops off it, staring at me as he does so. I lean slightly forward to see what was in the hole, but all I see is black. My heart thuds as I consider how to jump.

"Come on, Amity" he pushes, tapping his foot again. I look around once more to see the rest of the initiates staring at me, hardly blinking amidst their anticipation.

I take a deep breath in, shut my eyes, and leap off the ledge. I feel the wind tickling my skin and my clothes flap around me like clumsy wings. My fall is broken when I feel myself hit something stretchy. I gasp as I land, and lie there for a moment, marvelling at what I had just done.

The net is pulled down next to me and another man helps me down. He is equally as muscular as Eric, but his face seems kinder.

"Name" he asks. I pause for a moment. Danielle is an Amity name.

"Dani" I respond confidently, smiling slightly.

"First jumper, Dani!" the man yells, and I feel cheers surround me. A warmth of pride glows in my stomach.

One by one different initiates begin to jump, each at various levels of fear. Once they had realised they weren't going to fall to their death, it clearly made the drop much more enjoyable.

"First jumper, good job" I hear a voice call behind me. I spin around to see the Candor boy I had spoken to right after the choosing ceremony, he had a grin across his face, his dark brown hair slightly windswept from the jump.

"Thanks" I reply, smiling.

"Never would have guessed it from an Amity" he winks.

"Honestly, neither would I" I sigh, chuckling slightly.

"I like you, you're funny" He laughs "Dani, isn't it?"

"Yeah, and you are?"

"Zack" he reaches out and shakes my hand. I see Jen wandering over to us.

"Congrats first jumper!" she high fives me, laughing. "Who's this?" she asks, gesturing to Zack.

"Oh right. Jen this is Zack, Zack this is Jen" I introduce.

"Nice to meet you Jen" Zack lazily salutes.

"Likewise Zack" Jen responds. We smile amongst each other, at least if everything else goes wrong, we still have friends.

Once the last initiate has jumped Eric the man who helped me off the net and another woman wonder over the front of the group.

"OK, listen up" the man announces "Dauntless born go with Lauren, Transfers you're with me and Eric". The group begins to divide, Dauntless born leave, but us transfers stay put.

"I'm Four" the man says. A glance is exchanged among us at his peculiar choice of name, but we say nothing for fear of what would happen if we did. He leads through a huge stretch of corridors, all covered with the same charcoal grey.

As we get closer to what I presume is the centre of Dauntless the noise grows louder, until we enter a huge section of various places. There are shops, food stores, tattoo parlours, all sorts of buzzing life.

We all stare around in awe at the sheer scale of it all.

"This is the pit" Four says "It's the centre of life here at Dauntless" He lets us marvel for a minute or so longer before leading us to a new place.

The sound of rushing water fills my ears, the long drop down looks intimidating and deadly. Somehow I didn't think there was a net at the bottom of this one.

"This is the chasm, a fall from here could kill you, so keep your wits about you" Four explains. I exchange a look with Jen and Zack, this place really is dangerous. Following the introduction of those paces, we are led towards a huge dining hall, filled with rowdy Dauntless members eating and drinking and having fun.

We find some empty seats and sit down on them. I survey the food that's around us, it's a lot unhealthier than Amity food, but I welcome that. Four comes over and sits near us but doesn't say a word, it certainly makes the atmosphere more awkward.

"Dauntless is pretty cool then" says Zack, his mouth full of food.

"Yeah, I especially like the chasm you could fall to your death from" Jen replies sarcastically, making us chuckle.

"It's a lot more exciting than Amity, that's for sure" I comment, they nod in agreement. Without warning someone slides next to us on our table.

"Hey, don't mind if I butt in do you?" the boy asks. His hair is dishevelled, and green eyes alive with humour. He wears blue clothes, an Erudite.

"Go ahead" Jen replies, shrugging.

"I'm Ethan, by the way" He introduces himself. We greet him and introduce ourselves back.

Ethan turns out to be an OK guy. He's quite funny and light hearted, but will occasionally slip out an Erudite type comment that'll make us chuckle, and Four roll his eyes. Four hasn't said anything the whole time, until we see Eric in the distance, heading directly for our table. I shuffle nervously in my seat has he draws nearer, but none of us say anything.

"Four!" Eric exclaims in mock delight "Max wants to see you later". Four sighs and nods at him begrudgingly.

"Who are these lot then" Eric asks, gesturing to us. We freeze.

"Ethan, Jen, Zack, and Dani" He motions to each of us as he sys our names.

"Oh yeah, Amity, the first jumper" he says, smirking at me. I don't know how to react so I just sit there, scared that I would say something wrong.

"Leave her, Eric" Four says through gritted teeth, Eric clearly enjoys putting people under pressure. He raises his hands and wonders away from our table.

"Transfers, with me!" he yells, and we scramble to our feet to follow him through the large doors. He leads us through a maze of corridors before he finally stop at a door. He explains to us the rules; When training is, where we can go, where we can't go etc.

Eric pushes open the door and we stream through. Inside were some beds, toilets and showers, a small cabinet next to each of our beds. It was pretty basic.

"This is your dorm, where you'll sleep" Eric announces.

"Boys or girls?" Ethan asks

"Both" Four answers, I didn't realise he'd come with us. Again, frowns were exchanged among us but nothing spoken, just like before. "Training starts at eight tomorrow, don't be late" Four warns as the two trainers leave, so it was just us transfers left.

Jen, Ethan, Zack and I all choose beds near each other, and we change into the black clothes Dauntless had provided. I looked at my friends.

"Well" I say "Home sweet home"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I wake up to the sound of Eric and Four shouting and banging on the wall of the dorm.

"Initiates, breakfast then the training room, you've got half an hour. Don't be late" Four yells as we slowly sit up in bed, dazed and confused. They eventually stop shouting and leave us to get on with it.

"Why did I sign up for this?" Zack groans, rolling reluctantly out of bed.

"Beats me" I sigh, pulling on a black vest top and sweatpants clumsily. All around me people are scrambling to get ready, no one was risking being late on the first day of training.

We stumble to breakfast as fast as our tired legs can manage and shovel the food in on autopilot.

We almost get lost on the way to the training room, and make it in time by the skin of our teeth, we're some of the last people in. When we enter the room I can see Eric and Four standing in front of the group, and a table with guns lined across it. On one side of the room I can also see a row of targets. I think I have a pretty good idea of what we're going to be doing.

Once everybody has arrived, Four begins to hand out guns.

"If you end up working in Dauntless, you're gonna need to know how to shoot one of these, accurately". I feel heavy metal in my hands, the gun weighs more than I thought. "This is part of the physical stage of your training. There will also be a mental, and an emotional. The lowest ranking people at the end of each stage will be cut"

My heart skips a beat.

"Cut?" someone asks with a panic.

"There's no point letting weak people into our faction, we have no use for them" Eric says, his cold eyes surveying everyone in the room. As his eyes sweep past me I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"Back to the task at hand" Four coughs. He explains how to shoot the guns, how to aim and stand. I try and take it all in but I'm not sure I'll remember it.

When Four finishes we each stand in front of a target and begin to shoot. Most people hit the target first time, though only at the edges. I take a while to prepare myself for my first shot.

I curl my finger around the trigger, and finally pull. The force of the gun jolts my arm back, and the shot reverberates through my body with a dull ache, it makes my arms tingle. I look up to see where the shot went, to see a hole in the wall next to it.

"It helps if you point your gun at the target, hippie" one of the boys sneers. Scott, I think his name is, he doesn't strike me as a nice sort of person. I sigh in frustration and take my aim again.

"Your stance is all messed up, Amity" I feel a voice behind me say. It is unmistakeably Eric's. He is so close to me I can feel his breath tickle my ear.

He kicks my feet apart to widen my gait, and I nearly lose my balance as a result. He continues to adjust my arms and posture until he seems happy and pulls back.

"Try again" he says curtly. I pull the trigger once more, and this time it clips the side of the target. I turn around with dread to see Eric's reaction, but he has already gone and continued his walk down the line. I turn back to my target again.

"Training's up. Back here the same time tomorrow" Four dismissed as we eagerly scrambled out of the door. We've been training for hours now, and it's beginning to take a toll on us physically.

"I can't feel my hands" Jen complains, staring at her hands.

"I can, and it hurts" Ethan replies.

"We'll probably get used to it" I offer, trying to present some positivity.

We return to our dorm and decide to gather on my bed, sitting with our legs crossed facing each other.

"What was Erudite like then?" I ask Ethan and Jen.

"Boring" they reply in unison, and we laugh in response.

"All they care about is your grades, it's like you're not even human!" Ethan says, folding his arms.

"Candor's not much better, everything's so strict. Plus, I was terrible at being honest" Zack implores. "What about you, Dani, did you like Amity". I stare at them blankly.

"I mean, it was Okay. A bit boring.". They all raise their eyebrows. "Alright, a lot boring" I eventually reply, chuckling.

"Aw look. The lone hippie's made some friends". It's Scott again, smirking maliciously at me. His friends cackle with him. I can see him becoming an issue.

"Get lost, Scott" I respond, I don't sound confident at all.

"Look, the hippie's trying to be brave" he says again, in a patronising tone of voice that makes my blood boil. I tense my fists, but Jen puts a calming hand on me.

"They're not worth it, Dani" she insists, the boys glare at Scott and his cohorts.

I sigh. I'm beginning to miss Amity, my home comforts, my sister. It was simpler there, there were no such thing as bullies. I guess in Dauntless it's different.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

We are awoken to the same shouting and banging on the wall as yesterday, and we respond with the same reluctant groans. My arms ache from the guns in yesterday's training, and they feel heavy as I move them around to try and put my clothes on as fast as I can.

There is no privacy in the dorm, you just have to get on with it. When I take off my shirt I hear Scott wolf whistle mockingly from across the room, and I scowl at him in response. What's his problem with me?

After breakfast, I tell my friends I'll be at training in a minute after I've found the bathroom. It doesn't take me too long to find one, but when I do, I can't find my way back again.

Turns out Dauntless is a bit of a maze.

I run around frantically through the corridors, glancing at a clock to see that I'm already five minutes late for training. They're gonna be so mad.

Eventually I find the doors I'm looking for and burst through at speed. They were already in a group, Four clearly mid speech.

"Amity, you're late" Eric states, more calm than expected him to be.

"Sorry" I reply, making my way over to the group. Eric raises an eyebrow but says nothing, as Four continues explaining what we are doing.

It's knife throwing today, and with my arms still hurting from yesterday, I don't know how I'm going to manage to hit the target.

I hold the handle in my palm, weighing it up. Slowly I pull back my arm, squinting as I stare at the target. If I throw hard enough, it might just hit the torso. I snap my arm forward, the knife slicing through the air before its point digs into the board, right above where the heart would be.

I breathe a sigh of awe and belief, even when the knife falls out of the board and clatters to the ground.

"Nice one, Dani" Zack slaps me on the back grinning. Jen high fives me. The pride is a good feeling.

"Get it to stick next time, Amity" Eric says, his tone dismissive. I scowl. He's never happy, is he?

Our knife throwing continues for a while longer until we run out of knives. Just as we are about to move forward and get them, Eric stops us.

"Everybody stop!" He yells, we stare at him blankly.

"Thanks to her lateness this morning, Amity here will be picking up the knives" He claps a hand on my shoulder, the contact sends a chill down my spine. He pushes me forward, looking at me expectantly. Ethan gives me a confused frown, and I shrug back.

I bend down and begin to pick up the cool metal in my hands, knife by knife along the floor and I stand up to pull them off the targets. This punishment could have been a lot worse. As I pick up the last one, I lay them back on the table, but before I can turn around I hear Eric's voice again.

"Hey Amity, you missed one". I turn around to see a knife flying quickly in my direction. Out of instinct and reflex my hand shoots out to catch it. Fortunately I grab the handle, but the blade is inches away from my stomach.

I am frozen to the spot. I slowly move my head up to look at Eric, but he simply smirks.

"Don't be late next time"

"I can't believe Eric did that" Jen exclaims to me later. "What if you hadn't caught it?"

"I dread to think" I respond, my heart beating fast. Did he know I was going to catch it? I shake my head free of curiosity and continue walking.

"Hey, why don't we go and explore the pit?" Zack proposes. I raise an eyebrow. I haven't been to look at anything in the pit yet, I've been too focused on training.

"Yeah, we should! We have points to spend anyway" Jen exclaims, Ethan nodding in agreement.

"Fine, let's go" I sigh, grinning as we walk towards the stores.

Jen completely bombards me with piles of clothes she wants me to buy. Admittedly they are a lot nicer than the ones that were issued to us when we first arrived. Soon I feel Jen tugging me towards one particular section of the shop that I'm unfamiliar with. The makeup isle.

"Right, we'll get you some eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow" She piles various tubes into my hands and I struggle to hold them all.

"What are these?" I ask, frowning at her.

"Oh I forgot, you don't have make up in Amity" she recalls "Why is that?"

"They believe that you should embrace natural beauty and not hide it, or something like that" I reply. It's true that no one wears make up in Amity. It's way more of a Dauntless thing, although I can't picture myself wearing it.

We make our way to the checkout and walk out of the store holding various bags of this and that. Ethan and Zack roll their eyes at us but we simply grin in response.

Back at the dorms, Jen works her magic on my bland Amity face and turns it into something, well, Dauntless. My eyelashes look longer and fuller, my face more defined. It makes me feel more Dauntless.

"Dani, you look stunning" Jen gushes, she hugs me out of delight at her work.

"Yeah you do, Dani" Ethan blinks, looking relatively bewildered.

"Nah, she's still ugly" Zack responds in jest, and I punch him lightly on the arm.

"You might as well stop trying, hippie" Scott says, laughing. Except he's not joking. His malicious laugh rings out through the dorm. I feel my heart sink. I know he's doing it just to be horrible, but that doesn't make me feel any happier.

Jen rolls her eyes.

"I'm getting sick of that idiot" she hisses.

Honestly, so am I.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

My fists collide clumsily with the faded orange punch bags, barely making it sway as I throw my punches. Everyone else has managed to get a good technique, their punch bags flying all over the place, except for me apparently.

It looked easy when Four had demonstrated, but now standing in front of a punch bag I realised how wrong I was.

I throw another punch, my knuckles scraping the leather material. I let out a frustrated sigh, catching the attention of a few people that glanced over to see my struggle.

I pull my arm back to punch again, but before I can move my arm to the punch bag I feel someone behind me grab my wrist. The large hand reaches all the way around my wrist. I spin around in surprise to see Eric inches in front of me. I stare at him, waiting for him to say something.

"Not getting the hang of this are you, Amity?" he comments, glancing at the still punching bag.

"I guess not" I mumble, briefly making eye contact with him before staring at my feet. He lets go of my wrist and I let it drop to my side.. He grabs my shoulders and turns me to face the punch bag.

"Put your fists up" he orders, and I immediately follow. He stares at me for a few moments, studying my posture. "Move your feet further apart and raise your arms higher". I do as he says, conscious that he will find more flaws, I already feel awful. "Start punching"

My hands collide with the bag again, although it feels slightly easier this time thanks to my corrected posture. I'm still not moving the bag though.

Without prior warning he places his hand on my stomach and I stop in surprise.

"You need to tense here, use your whole body" he instructs and pulls his hand away, dragging his fingers across the thin material covers my stomach. I start to punch once more and the bag starts to move a little more than before. I should be happy, but I'm more focused on the baffling interaction with Eric.

He leaves again, his footsteps getting further away from me. I'm glad to be away from the pressure.

We're punching for a fair few hours before we are stopped and told that we're done for the day. By this point my hands are bleeding and bruised.

"Ouch Dani, how hard were you punching?" Ethan asks, staring at my red stained hands.

"Not hard enough apparently" I sigh, everyone else was so much better at this than me.

"Aw what's wrong, hippie? Draw a little blood" Scott sneers, I feel my stomach drop. "Don't worry, I'm sure you won't need your fists when you're factionless"

I tense up my whole body, and I feel an overwhelming urge to walk right up to him and punch him in that smug little face of his. Seemingly sensing my anger, Jen gently grabs my hand and pulls me away.

"Come one Dani, he doesn't know what he's talking about" She says softly. Although I have a horrible feeling he does.

As we are leaving I glance back to see Scott, when I spot Eric in the corner of the training room, staring on to the situation with intrigue. When he sees me looking he immediately drops his gaze, and I turn around and leave.

_"Hippie's gonna be factionless" says Scott, his eyes dark and twisted. His friends are surrounding me with the same evil look on their faces._

_I cower in fear. They're right. I'm not Dauntless, I'm pathetic._

_"Pathetic! Pathetic!" they chant in unison. Scott begins to punch me. My face, my stomach, anywhere he can reach. I'm bleeding, and I can feel myself fading._

_"Don't worry, hippie, you won't end up factionless if you're dead"_

_He raises his fist one last time and my vision goes blank._

I wake up in the dorms breathing heavily, sweat prickling my back. I look at the clock. 1:34am. I sigh and throw the bed covers off me. My heart is still pounding and I am beginning to feel mildly claustrophobic.

I tip toe out of the dorm bare foot, trying to be as quiet as possible. I'll just go for a quick walk, then I'll be OK. I'm sure no one will notice.

I wander for a while, up and down the pit, listening to the sounds of my bare feet padding against the cold cement floor. The Dauntless compound was homely, in an odd way. I continue down a corridor and turn the corridor when I smack in to something. Not something, someone.

I look up to see who it is, and end up seeing the last person I want it to be.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Eric demands, staring at me. I suddenly feel very unprotected, my shorts and tank top doing nothing to make me feel safe. I look up at him and he raises an eyebrow at me.

"I was...I needed some air" I stutter.

"I'm sure there's plenty of that in the dorm" he responds, looking dubiously at me.

"Yeah. Sorry" I mumble.

"Go back. Now, before you get in anyone else's way" he says curtly. I don't need asking twice before I turn on my heel and walk briskly in the opposite direction.

"And Amity" he says, I turn around to meet his ice cold stare "Watch yourself"

I simply turn around again and walk away, my heart pounding for a different reason this time.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Initiates, gather round!" Four shouts as we enter the training room. My eyes sweep the area for Eric, part of me wanted him not to be here after last night's encounter. Unfortunately I spot him standing next to Four with his arms casually folded. I quickly look away, not wanting him to notice me.

"What's up with you, Dani?" Zack asks, frowning at me.

"Nothing. I just didn't sleep well last night" I insist.

"Yeah too right. Those mattresses are like rocks" Ethan chimes in laughing. I pretend that that's the reason I didn't sleep.

"You've learnt how to shoot, throw, and punch. But today, you'll be fighting each other" Four announces. Murmurs bubble among us, we look to each other nervously, sizing each other up. It doesn't look I'd be able to defeat any of these people.

"How long do we fight for?" one of the girl asks, Hayley I think her name is.

"Until one of you can't continue" Eric smirks, breaking his silence.

"Or one of you concedes" Four adds on.

"Conceding is for cowards" Eric warns, Four simply glares in response.

If we can't concede, I'm gonna end up dead within five minutes into the fight. Great.

"First up, Scott and Carter" Four gestures to the fighting area and then takes a step back. We arrange ourselves to that we are surrounding the podium, trying to get the best view possible.

Carter and Scott step up, puffing their chests out, staring menacingly at each other. They are both very competitive, and it's honestly difficult to try and wager who will win. Four gestures for them to begin, and they waste no time in locking horns like bulls.

It's at this point I realise how brutal Scott is. He violently hurls punches a kicks at Carter, who barely manages to stay standing. All the while Scott hardly breaks a sweat. I just hope I never have to fight him.

The fight ends as Carter is knocked unconscious, and his friends drag him off the podium. I feel even more nervous now, if that's even possible.

"Next up, Piper and Dani". My stomach drops. As Piper steps out of the crowd I see she is a lot stronger than me. She is a few inches taller than me, with more muscle than I have. I don't have a chance.

I tentatively step up onto the podium, facing Piper who simply stares at me like an obstacle, rather than a human. If she beats me she climbs the ranks, and that's all there is to it in her eyes. I see Eric out of the corner of my eye, raising an eyebrow. As if there isn't enough pressure already.

Without a moment's thought, Piper thrusts her fist into my jaw. I stumble back, clutching my face in pain. I have to fight back. I kick my leg out at her kneecap. It's weak, but enough to send her off balance. I reach out to punch her but she grabs my arm and twists it so it's behind my back, before proceeding to punch and kick me until I'm on the floor, barely conscious.

Four chooses to end the fight here, thank god. Piper returns to the crowd with a smug smile, whereas I shakily push myself to a standing position. Zack and Jen help me off the podium, and as we step off I brush pass Eric.

"Better luck next time, Amity" he says, I can almost hear the smirk in his voice. I'm too tired to respond, and instead simply stumble to a bench where I slump and try to hold in the tears.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next morning I wake up with bruises all over my body in various shades of blue. They hurt when I poke them, but as long as I leave them alone they shouldn't cause me too much bother. I dread today's training, we'll be fighting each other again and who knows who I'll end up with this time.

As we enter the training room, everyone eyes each other up suspiciously. No one trusts anyone anymore, for fear that their trust will be abused in a fight.

Of course Scott is still walking around, cocky as ever. I wonder if anyone will ever beat him? I really hope so, he deserves it.

"First up, Corey and Jen!" Fours voice echoes around the room and Jen stiffens next to me. I put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be fine Jen, you'll ace it" I smile encouragingly, although I'm not so sure. Corey's stronger than her, I just hope that he's too worn out from yesterday.

"I hope so" she sighs shakily as she steps up to the podium.

Four gives the signal for them to begin and they immediately start thrown kicks and punches. It wasn't long before Jen was on the ground, Corey mercilessly beating her. I throw a frantic look to Ethan and Zack. I have to stop him, she'll die if he carries on like this.

I push through the crowd of initiates to reach the podium, but before I can reach Jen, Eric steps in front of me and I run into his chest.

"Don't interfere, Amity" he warns. Corey was still hitting Jen. I need to get past, I'll have to be brave.

"You won't have any initiates left if you're not careful!" I yell before pushing past him. I shove him off Jen and crouch next to my friend. She is still conscious.

"You OK?" I ask.

"Fantastic" she replies sarcastically, wincing as she smiles. I help her up and Ethan and Zack get her to a bench where she can sit and recover. Just as I am about to check if she's OK, Eric grabs the top of my arm firmly and pulls me back.

"You ought to be careful, Amity. That mouth of yours is gonna get you into trouble" he threatens, almost smirking. The urge to say something snarky back to him is overwhelming, but I hold my tongue. He is a Dauntless leader after all. Without letting go of my arm he says:

"Dani, Ayla, your turn" he announces, pushing me towards the podium. I stumble a little, but make it to see who this 'Ayla' is.

She's relatively small, but her face is fierce and stance overbearing despite her height. I feel what little confidence I have deflate. She won her fight yesterday, although from what I remember she was badly beaten in the process. Hopefully that gives me an advantage.

She catches me off guard when she punches me hard in the stomach. I gasp before punching her back in the jaw. This disorientates her, long enough for me to knock her to the floor. She kicks at me, clipping my hip, but I resist and bend over her, hitting her again and again. I feel awful doing it. I know it's what we've been told to do, but still...

With an apologetic look on my face I grab her head and hit it against the ground, knocking her unconscious. I breathe a sigh of relief. I won.

She's around my skill in the ranking so it unfortunately won't change my ranking much, but I still won.

I get up and dust my black training pants down, and walk somewhat dizzily off the podium. I see Four circle my name on the chalkboard, as my friends clap me on the back in congratulations. I grin at them.

"Nice one, Dani" Zack beams, and I smile in thanks.

The rest of the fights seem to go by quite quickly, and relatively uneventfully. A couple of people got a bloody nose, a few got black eyes, but then that's not really out of the ordinary in Dauntless. It's much the opposite in Amity. I feel sad as I think back to my old life in Amity. I wonder how my sister is getting on?

No. I have to stop thinking so much about my old life, and more about my new one.

As we leave the training room for the day, Eric stops me again. What's his problem? Doesn't he have anyone else to bother?

"You're still weak Amity, that win won't do you any favours in the rankings" he smirks. I clench my fists.

"At least I won" I say through gritted teeth.

"Enjoy the victory. With your strength it won't be happening again anytime soon" he replies darkly.

"Well the sooner I'm out of Dauntless, the sooner I'm out of your way, so good for you" I blurt out, promptly realising that was a mistake. Before he can respond I run quickly out of the training room and over to my friends, my heart beating fast.

"There you are Dani!" Jen exclaims, she's limping slightly.

"Yeah, where did you go?" Zack asks. I look at him uncomfortably.

"I got a drink of water" I reply, hoping that it's a good enough excuse. They nod, seeming happy with my reply.

I glance back at the training room door.

Why is Eric so hell bent on making my life miserable?


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

When Four walks in to our dorm clutching a fairly large chalkboard with Eric by his side, we all start to panic a little. Obviously we knew there would be rankings, but we didn't know we would get to see them so soon. First thing in the morning. When we are all half asleep.

I'm not ready for this. Everyone knows how weak I am, and that is surely going to be reflected in the rankings.

"Those below the line need to get their act together fairly soon, or else you'll end up being cut" Eric announces, pointing to the white line across the board.

"These of course aren't the final rankings, but they are a good reflection of where you stand at the moment" Four continues.

I crane my neck to get a look at the board, everyone else is in the way. Of course Scott is at the top, and his makes no attempt to hide his smugness. My eyes fall further down the list. Jen Zack, and Ethan are all above the line.

Then I see my name. Right at the bottom. My heart falters as I realise that I'm the worst fighter in here, not that I didn't know that before.

"It's OK Dani, you'll improve" Jen attempts to make me feel better, but in all honesty it makes me feel worse.

"You won that fight yesterday, who's to say you won't do it again" Ethan encourages, rubbing my shoulder.

"Thanks guys" I mumble half heartedly. Then my day is made a whole lot worse when I see Scott walking over to me, a boastful smile on his face. I brace myself.

"Aw, hippie's at the bottom of the leader board" he mocks, sticking his bottom lip out "Maybe you should just go back to farming with Amity. That is if they'd want a runt like you back" he sneers as his friends cackle with him. I feel tears prick my eyes but refuse to let them spill.

I look up to see Eric frowning in our direction, although I can't read what he's thinking.

"C'mon Dani, let's get breakfast" Zack tugs my hand towards the door and I follow with Ethan and Jen, walking away to the soundtrack of Scott's laughter echoing across the dorm.

When training arrives I'm feeling less confident than ever. Every look I'm given is either of pity or hilarity, both make me feel terrible. I'm an easy target now, it won't take much to crush me to a pulp. I'm almost certainly going to get cut.

I walk in to see who I will be paired with today, and what I see terrifies me to my core. Near to the top of the board was my name. Next to Scott's.

"No" I say, fear lacing my voice "No I can't do it" I say.

"You have to Dani" Jen insists.

"He'll kill me" I say, my voice almost a whisper.

"We won't let that happen" Ethan says softly.

I tremble as I sit through the other fights, and every once in a while Scott will send a malicious smirk at me. It takes all my will power to not run out of the room and never come back. But I stay. Because If I'm not strong, I have to be brave.

"Scott and Dani" Four calls, and I shakily walked to the podium. Scott was there almost immediately. He begins to circle me, his fists raised, a taunting smile paints his face.

"Come on little Amity, take a shot. I'll let you have a free one if you like" he mocks. I don't reply, I can't. "How weak are you?" he sneers.

He punches me square in the jaw, then as my hands leave my body to protect my face, he punches me in the stomach. The air is knocked out of me, and the punch I eventually throw couldn't squash an ant. Scott simply grins at me.

He opens his mouth to hurl an insult at me, but as he opens his mouth I punch him. Hard. He raises his hand to his mouth.

"Oh you'll pay for that, hippie" he threatens, before proceeding to beat me. He hits me until I'm on the floor. I try to fight back but he's too strong. He's the top initiate for crying out loud!

"That's enough" Four dismisses. I am still on the floor as Scott crouches next to my head.

"Don't worry, it's not long before you're cut, hippie" he whispers, his warm breath tickling my ear.

I slowly haul myself to my feet and of the podium, thoroughly defeated, and humiliated. My friends simply pat me on the back, they don't know what to say to me. I don't want them to say anything at all. To make things worse, I then see Eric coming over.

"Let me see" he says, grabbing my arm. I hadn't realised before, but It's bleeding quite badly from a cut. Scott's nail must have caught it while we were fighting.

"Go to the infirmary" Eric orders.

"I'm fine" I reply, sighing. The last thing I want to do is to be fussed over by a nurse. Eric clenches his jaw at my defiance.

"Infirmary. Now" he orders again.

"I really don't need to" I insist. He sighs before grabbing my good arm and pushing me from the small of my back.

"Four, carry on with the fights" Eric says as he pushes me out of the room.

"Where are we going?" I ask. He looks at me like I'm stupid.

"The Infirmary" he responds, not letting go of my arm.

"But I don't need-"

"Your arm needs stitches. Are all Amity this difficult?" he asks in a frustrated manner.

"It might just be me" I mumble, he smirks in response. "You know I can walk there on my own" I prompt.

"I know. But as soon as I leave you'd walk in the opposite direction to the infirmary" he points out. I scowl, he has a point. Given the opportunity I'd just go back to training, but it doesn't look like that's likely to happen now.

We walk the rest of the journey wordlessly, although his hand never left me. I guess he was worried I might fall over or something. I wouldn't be surprised.

He brings me to the front desk of the infirmary and calls over a nurse.

"Could you stitch this one up, Rosie?" he asks towards the nurse.

"Sure" she responds "Come this way" she brings me to a bed, and surprisingly Eric follows.

"Jeez, Eric" she says, examining my arm "What are you doing to them in training these days?" 

"What can I say, they're a violent bunch" he shrugs.

"Like you were, you mean?" she responds, raising an eyebrow. It doesn't surprise me that he was a violent initiate. It doesn't seem like anything's changed.

Rosie stitches up my arm fairly quickly, only a couple of stitches needed.

"It'll probably scar" she informs me.

"I don't mind" I sigh "Battle wounds or whatever"

"I like this girl Rosie laughs "Where are you ranked"

"Last" I mumble. Rosie looks at her feet awkwardly.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Hun" she replies softly. "Right, that's you all fixed" she says, suddenly happy again. "I'll leave you two now"

"Thanks" I say

"No problem" she smiles before leaving. I look up at Eric, unsure of what to do now.

"So do we go back to training then?" I prompt.

"When you fight you have to attack first" he says suddenly, he's frowning.

"Why?" I respond. He sighs and rolls his eyes at me.

"You always just stand there, like you're waiting to be punched. You have to attack as soon as you can" he says. I nod in response, and there is a few moments of silence.

"We better go back" he says, and this time he doesn't wait for me before leaving.

Why did he help me? I'm just the low ranking girl from Amity. But I guess if Eric thinks I have a chance of making it into Dauntless, then hope is not lost. Right?


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I have to win my fight today. No question about it. If I lose again then I'll be cut from Dauntless, and have to live the rest of my life factionless, which is clearly not something I want to do.

I clamber into the training room with the other initiates, trying to get a look at the board which will determine who I'm fighting. I crane my neck to see that I am fighting Everett.

Oh no. He's strong, well built, and practically twice my size. He's near the top of the leader board- 3rd I think. I've not no chance.

I wait for my turn in anticipation, jiggling my leg as a way of releasing my nerves. One by one people get up for their fights and get beaten to a pulp. My fight is last. As Four calls my name I start to head for the podium when someone grabs my arm. Eric.

"Remember what I said, attack first" he says in a near whisper. I nod. He lets me go and I continue my walk to the podium, nerves shaking me. I do what Eric says, and as soon as I step up I throw a punch to Everett's face. He becomes disorientated, so I seize the opportunity and kick him in the stomach. He launches at me, twisting my arm behind my back, but I kick his shin and he lets go.

We continue like this for a long time. Sometimes I would be near winning, but Everett would twist it back in his favour. I think I catch a glimpse of Eric looking anxiously at me, but I can't be certain.

Everett's getting tired by this point, so I knock him to the ground, and give him one final hit that knocks him unconscious.

"Dani wins" Four shouts, sounding almost surprised. My friends begin to cheer, and I grin back at them. I've actually won a fight with someone who's at the top of the leader board! I just hope it's enough to keep me from getting cut

After all the fights are done and training's over, Jen decides that it would be a good idea for us to go and get tattoos.

"You're insane" I say laughing.

"Nope, just Dauntless" she grins.

"She has a point" Zack says with a shrug.

"Fine" I sigh. I have no idea what getting a tattoo involves, except that there is a needle involved, which doesn't thrill me.

We look around the shop for some time, analysing which tattoos we'd like to get. I eventually settle on a tree engulfed with flames to go on my shoulder. A combination of Amity and Dauntless. Sentimental and pretty cool looking.

Tori does my tattoo, the one that did the test on me.

"How's training so far?" she asks, distracting me from the pain on my shoulder.

"It's fine" I say, unsure of how else to describe it. She chuckles at me.

"It's only gonna get harder" she replies in a warning tone. I gulp but don't say anything else. Eventually she finishes lets me go and pay. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, it makes me feel more Dauntless.

I walk past the others to see if their done, however their more extravagant tattoos are taking longer.

"I'll wait for you guys outside" I say before walking out of the tattoo parlour. The pit is buzzing at this time in the evening, people everywhere having fun. It's for this reason that I nearly don't spot Eric walking over to me.

"Well done for today, Amity" he says, standing in front of me.

"I guess I should thank you" I reply "For your advice"

"You won the fight" he shrugs, I don't say anything back. "Got a tattoo, huh?" he asks, brushing his thumb across the black ink on my shoulder.

"Uh, yeah" I mumble, his cool touch making shivers run down my spine. He studies it for a few moments longer before pulling his hand away.

"Hey Dani, you ready to go!" Ethan yells, coming over towards me. Eric gives me one last look and wordlessly walks away. That was a weird encounter.

"Yep, let's head back" I say, walking with my three friends back to the dorm.

Sitting around my bed, it doesn't take us long before we reach the topic of visiting day.

"I hope my Mom comes" Jen says hopefully.

"Yeah me too. What about you Dani, who's coming to visit you?" Ethan asks.

"My sister probably" I mumble.

"What about your parents?" Jen asks. I tense up.

"My Mom died when I was young. My Dad's an alcoholic, factionless" I reply, looking at my lap.

"Sorry Dani, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine. You were gonna find out sooner or later" I cut her off.

I fall asleep at night thinking about whether or not my sister is going to come to visiting day. Maybe she's forgotten about me? Maybe she doesn't want to come to Dauntless? Dozens of thoughts swim round in my head until I fall into a troubled sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Today's the day. Visiting day. I don't think anyone slept last night, and those who did were tossing and turning in their sleep. This is arguably one of the hardest days at Dauntless so far.

At breakfast we try to distract our minds from the obvious, but we can't shake our minds free from the doubt that any of our families will come. I have faith in my sister though, she wouldn't ignore me, would she?

As we are about to enter the pit we are stopped by Four, Eric, and the other trainer, Lauren I think her name is?

"You're families are waiting inside, you have about an hour" Four informs us.

"Don't get too attached" Eric continues "We take faction before blood very seriously at Dauntless"

We nod, eager to go and see if our family members have decided to visit. Lauren pushes open the door and we flood into the room, Dauntless born and transfers. Immediately people start spotting their family and running off to greet them.

I spot my sister in the middle of the room, her bright Amity clothes making her stand out among the rest. She looks anxious, but as soon as she sees me her eyes light up.

"Jas!" I cry as I run towards her. We throw our arms round each other in a tight embrace, laughing together.

"Dani, what happened to you" Jas gasps, staring at my bruise painted body.

"Initiation" I shrug "We have to fight each other". She seems shocked, being an Amity, but leaves the matter to rest. he tugs me over to as small table that we sit around.

"So, how's initiation so far?" She asks, grinning.

"It's tough" I reply "But exciting I guess"

"Made any friends?" she says.

"That's Jen" I point to her, and she gives me a small wave. She's sitting with her Mom and Dad. "That's Ethan, and that's Zack" I continue, pointing to them individually.

"That's good to know" he says, before raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"What?" I ask suspiciously.

"Met any boys?" she asks.

"Jasmine!" I jokingly scold her and she chuckles.

"It's an innocent enough question!" she protests. For some reason my mind flashes briefly to Eric, but I quickly dispel that random association and avert my attention back to my sister.

"No, no boys" I say firmly, and she raises an eyebrow.

"I suppose I'll let it slide" she sighs.

"How's Amity without me?" I ask.

"It was strange at first, but I've settles back in now" she responds "I've been doing lot's more things to do with the community..." she trails off, staring wide eyes at something behind me.

"Jas, you okay?" I ask, half laughing. She keeps staring. I quickly turn around and see someone stumbling through the crowd. Factionless clothes, messy hair, clearly drunk. My heart drops when I realise who it is.

My Father.

The crowds begin to part as he clumsily makes our way towards us. I feel terror growing in my stomach. Jas and I stand with haste, fearful of what he would do. I feel like a child again, as I cower behind my sister.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I am released, and Eric gently pulls me back to my sister. She wraps her arms around me and sobs into my hair. I clutch my stomach in pain.

"Escort this man off the premises" Eric orders the two security guards, and I watch as the man I used to call my Father being dragged away. Jas pulls me away from her chest.

"Are you OK?" she asks.

"Ye-" I'm cut off as I felt the stab of a bruise in my side. I am about to collapse to the floor, when I feel Eric's arm slip around my waist, and one over my shoulders to support me.

"I need to get back" my sister sighs "I can stay if you want me-"

"No, get back to Amity, I won't let him ruin things for us" I insist. She looks reluctant, but hugs me one last time before walking out of the door, with a timid wave goodbye. Part of me wants her to stay, but I know she has a busy life in Amity, I'd feel guilty keeping her from it.

Eric turns me around to face him, and he tilts my head with his thumb to check the damage.

"Let's get you fixed" he says softly, his voice kinder than I've ever heard it before. "Everyone, as you were" he announces to everyone else. I see Jen, Ethan, and Zack look on with concerned expressions as Eric helps me out of the room.

"Thank you" I say "For stopping him"

"He needed punching" he replies. I nod silently. He leads me to the door of the training room. "There's a medical kit in here" he says. He guides me over to a bench and eases me to a sitting position as I wince. He walks over to a locker and pulls out a green medical kit. It baffles me how nice he's being.

I find that when he walks back over I find it difficult to make eye contact with him. I don't want him to see how afraid of my Father I am, it doesn't seem very Dauntless. He pauses, standing in front of me.

"He's done that before hasn't he" he says softly. I stare at my feet. Seeing my resistance he crouches in front of me, tilting my face towards him with his finger. "Dani" he says, looking at me in the eye.

I nod, squeezing my eyes shut to stop the tears falling out of my eyes. He looks angry at my Father, but takes a deep breath and ignores it. He reaches into the medical kit and takes out an antiseptic wipe and pulls my bleeding hand towards him.

"This might sting a little" he warns, brushing the wipe across my fingers. I wince but say nothing, as my wound stings. He continues tending to my wounds for another half an hour or so. Not once does he say anything sarcastic, or snide. In fact, he seems to be quite concerned for my well being, which is certainly odd.

"What if he comes back?" I blurt, out of the blue. He tenses and looks at me.

"He won't" he says.

"You don't know that" I insist.

"I won't let him come back" he replies firmly. "I'll have the control room on the lookout. I'll protect you". I stop. He said he'll protect me. Why, I'm just an initiate?

"Thank you" I whisper. Suddenly the training room doors burst open, Jen, Ethan, and Zack run in.

"Four said you were here, are you okay?" Jen asks. She looks at Eric warily, but he is already packing up the medical kit. He doesn't look at me before he leaves, simply walks out of the door.

I turn my attention back to my friends, with today's events still lingering in my mind.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: Okay...It has been a very long time since I updated. I am truly very sorry, but with my exams in the way I needed to get them done and over with before I could continue with this story. But I'm back, yay! So enjoy this chapter, and I hope you still actually want to read this story :)**

Chapter 15

I wake up aching, sore, and covered in bruises. Though to be honest it's no different to any other morning of Dauntless initiation. My sleep was a restless one, and as a result I am now physically, emotionally, and mentally tired. Should be a great day then.

When Eric and Four enter to wake us up, I am the last to get out of bed. Putting my clothes on proves to be more painful than I expected, so when I turn around to greet my friends, I am not surprised that they are in the process of walking out the door.

I tug on my black boots and jog to the door. Eric is waiting outside. I feel my heart flutter a little as I look at him but ignore it for fear of what it might mean.

"Initiates, breakfast, now!" he barks his order to the group of us heading for the food hall. "Amity, has someone glued your feet to the floor? Get a move on!" he yells.

My stomach flips as I run forwards to catch up with my friends. Now I'm confused. Yesterday he was being all kind and caring, and now he's back to leader Eric. What did I do wrong?

I shake my head free from thoughts of Eric and catch up with Jen, Zack, and Ethan.

"What took you so long?" Zack asks in jest.

"Zack, you know what she's been through" Jen hisses.

"Guys, I'm fine" I sigh, and they look at me incredulously. "Seriously, I am! If I want to be Dauntless then I can't let things like that bother me" I insist, though on the inside I am still terrified of my Father coming back.

"Okay, we understand" Ethan smiles.

We enter the food hall where most of Dauntless are buzzing, lot's of noise and chatter fill my ears. We take our seats at the usual table, digging into our breakfast. Everything is good, until I see Scott saunter over to our table.

"How's your Daddy, hippie?" he smirks with malice in his eyes. My body tenses.

"None of your business" I mutter, trying to keep my cool.

"Don't be like that, I don't think your Father would approve" he sneers. I feel a boiling anger bubble beneath my skin but I don't move, I am rigid.

"How about you get lost?" I say, staring into his eyes.

"How about you make me?" he challenges. This is breaking point.

"Dani, don't" Jen warns, sensing what I'm about to do. I ignore her.

I stand up abruptly and my chair falls to the floor. Before Scott can even react I put my hand on the table and leap over so I am standing right in front of him. He still has that stupid smirk on his face. I'll have to do something about that.

I swing my fist right at his face and it hits his cheek. Ordinarily it would have hurt but the adrenaline pushes me through the pain.

"You little-" Scott launches at me, wrapping his hand tightly around my throat. I can feel my vision begin to go black, and it's not helped by a punch thrown to my stomach, then one to my face. I know I have to get out of his hold.

I launch my knee right up between his legs, he groans and lets go. I regain my full vision and Scott stands up again, before throwing another punch at me, to which I retaliate with a punch of my own.

I hear people around me shouting, but I don't register what they're saying, I just focus on hurting Scott.

That is until I feel muscular arms encircle my waist and pull me away from Scott. I look down, and realise that with those unmistakeable tattoos; it's Eric.

"Calm down, Amity!" he yells in my ear, and I register that I am still trying to attack Scott. Scott is being held back by Four and another guy stands between us. My friends look over, concerned, but ultimately quite proud.

"Eric, you deal with Dani, I'll deal with Scott" Four says, and before I know it, Eric is pulling me through the crowds to the doors. He grabs my upper arm and pulls me through them. When we reach an empty corridor he throws me up against the wall and stands inches away from me. We are almost touching.

"What the hell was that, Amity!"

**Author's Note: I really hope you liked it! I'll try and update soon :)**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"What the hell was that, Amity!" Eric yells. I look sideways away from him, the anger in his eyes would be enough to prevent me from speaking. "Hey, look at me" he says, pushing my cheek roughly so my face is pointed towards him.

"He was being an ass about what happened yesterday" I answer, trying to sound at least a little confident. Eric rolls his eyes.

"So you beat him up" he says, more of a statement than a question.

"I couldn't take the snide remarks anymore!" I insist.

"You can't fight people outside of training, that's the rules, you know that!" he shouts, a frustrated look on his face. Something inside me snaps.

"You were the one telling me to stand up for myself!" I yell back at him "You told me to punch first, so I did. Happy now?" I push off from the wall and shove past him, walking quickly to god knows where. I just want to get away from him and his mixed messages.

"Don't walk away from me, Dani" Eric warns with an authoritative tone. I almost stop. Almost.

I storm away again before I have a chance to change my mind, and continue down the corridor. I glance at a stainless steel clock on the wall, and note that training must have started by now.

What do I do? If I go to training then I won't be able to escape the eyes of the other initiates...or Eric. If I carry on wandering, hiding, then I'll probably get into trouble for missing training.

So basically I'm screwed.

I carry on walking through the corridors for at least half an hour longer in the hope of finding something that will make my mind up, until I crash into someone. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that it's Zack.

"Dani, there you are! I've been looking everywhere" he sighs.

"Why aren't you in training?" I ask.

"Could say the same about you. Eric sent me to look for you"

"Eric?" I ask. Why does Eric care where I am?

"Yep, he was in a really weird mood when he came into training after dealing with you" Zack pondered.

"What kind of mood?" I ask, trying to sound disinterested.

"I dunno, annoyed I guess" he answers without certainty.

"Annoyed at who?" I press him for more information without sounding to desperate.

"You, himself, the world? Who knows with Eric" he sighs. "Oh, you should see Scott though" he grins "He's absolutely seething"

"Good" I say, and Zack laughs in response.

"We should really get back to training" he says, as we take off down the corridors to the training room.

When we reach the double doors I stop, my heart thumping.

"What's wrong?" Zack asks in a concerned voice.

"They'll all stare" I say, glancing anxiously at the door.

"So? Bask in the attention" he laughs, before opening the door and pushing me through.

Sure enough, the sound of the door opening draws all of the attention in the room to me. I look over at Scott, who has a few stitches in his face. I feel oddly proud of this. Everyone is currently at punch bags, I guess there's no fighting today. Zack heads back to another punching bag.

Four walks over to me with a stern look in his eye.

"Dani. Despite the earlier events, neither you or Scott will be punished" he announces quietly.

"How come?" I ask in surprise.

"You were provoked, so the situation kind of balanced out. But nothing like this can happen again, do you understand?" he says.

"Of course" I nod. He directs me to a punch bag and I start jabbing at it.

I can't believe I got away with that.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

We are awoken unusually in the middle of the night with the familiar metal clanging on the walls of the dorm. We groan and peel open our eyes to see Eric and Four standing there smirking.

"Train station, 5 minutes" Four orders "We have a little Dauntless tradition we'd like you to complete"

5 minutes later and we're standing on the platform shivering, wondering what is going on.

"They're not gonna make us jump down a hole again are they?" Ethan whines.

"That would be a bit uncreative" Jen replies.

"The Dauntless born seem to know what's going on, maybe we should ask them?" Zack says, but he is interrupted as we hear the train screech along the tracks. The Dauntless born leap aboard first with ease, while us transfers struggle along after them.

I manage to leap aboard successfully, but my feet are right on the edge of the train cart, and I feel myself begin to topple.

Yet before can fall, a hand reaches out from seemingly nowhere and grabs my elbow, pulling me into the carriage. Again it's Eric.

"Thanks" I mumble, but he simply turns away and walks to the other end of the carriage. My hearts beats fast in my chest, and not just because I nearly fell out of a train. I stumble over to where my friends are.

"I'm getting nervous now, what's in those bags" Jen directs my attention to two large black bags, the contents unknown to everyone but the leaders.

"Probably not bunny rabbits" Ethan chuckles.

"Initiates! Listen up!" Eric yells "We're here today to play a little game of Capture the Flag"

Mumbles ripple around the carriage.

"The rules are simple" Four continues to explain what we must do, and we listen with eager ears.

"What's in the bag?" one person asks. With a smirk, Eric reaches into the bag and pulls out a gun, but nothing like the ones we've used in training.

"What are we supposed to do with that, beat people to death?" the girl sneers. Wordlessly Eric shoots her in the arm, which is met with cries of pain from the girl.

I glance at Jen with a worried look on my face.

"Neuro-stim darts" Four says "Simulates the pain of a real gunshot wounds, but only lasts about a minute"

I breathe a sigh of marginal relief, at least they're not actual guns.

"Two teams" Eric smirks "Four, care to choose first?"

"Okay" Four surveys the crowd "Jen" he says. Eric looks around the same as Four, and my heart skips a beat when his eyes land on me.

"I'll take Amity" he says, half smirking. Four raises an eyebrow but says nothing. I feel everyone's eyes on me, confused as to why Eric would take one of the weakest initiates. My heart thunders in my chest.

This pattern continues until there are no initiates left. I note that Scott is on the other team, which I am grateful for. I don't think I'd be able to look at him without wanting to punch him. Fortunately Ethan is also on my team which is comforting.

"My team, with me" Eric says before leaping of the train.


End file.
